Shahor is a GNU/Linux-libre distro similar to Puppy, built using the roar-ng II framework. It targets the x86_64 architecture, so it should work on pretty much any computer manufactured after 2004.

Shahor is very similar to Puppy: it uses JWM and ROX-Filer and tries to be as lightweight as possible, but it's an original creation: it's Puppy, re-imagined. It focuses on efficiency, high quality of code, portability and simplicity. Therefore, consumes less RAM than Precise Puppy 5.5 on the same hardware and feels fast.

Features

- 64-bit, built using Debian Wheezy packages and up-to-date applications.
- Uses the long-term supported Linux-libre 3.2.44 kernel.
- Shahor's graphical environment is familiar (similar to Puppy's), multi-language, easy on the eyes, does not require 3D acceleration and features fast generation of the root menu.
- Shahor has two interfaces: every graphical application has a text-based alternative, which can be used over SSH or just because it's lighter.
- Shahor's infrastructure is small, efficient, properly documented and implemented in clean way.
- Shahor is very easy to build and customize.
- Shahor does not have any redundant processes running, to reduce load, while Puppy has annoying, heavy scripts like pup_event_frontend_d running all the time.
- Shahor is easy to manage and secure, since it ships with a pre-configured, hardended SSH server and an unobtrusive firewall. It includes a wide variety of command-line tools that make administration easier.
- Shahor ships with a full develoment environment. The devx concept makes Puppy much bigger and makes it harder to develop for it.
- Shahor is multi-user. Puppy is a single-user operating system, which makes it less secure and suitable for computers user by more than one person.
- The development process of Shahor is fully automated and architecture-independent, so Shahor can be used to build itself out-of-the-box. Puppy is built manually and has some semi-automated tools, so it's hard to port and customize.
- Shahor's package manager is fast, since it uses AWK scripts for heavy text processing. Puppy's package manager is incredibly slow, due to heavy use of processes (e.g grep and cut) for parsing.
- Shahor's package manage is able to download and install packages from pretty much all major distros and has a plug-in interface which makes it easy to add support for additional ones, while Puppy's package manager supports multiple distributions using monolithic design.

Current Status

Currently, Shahor is in pre-beta quality. It does not have any graphical wizards or an installer, but it runs well: its package manager and all graphical applications work great. I run it from a slow USB flash drive persistently with Seamonkey and it performs very well.

However, since it's incomplete, it ships without any kind of warranty: use at your own risk.

How do I install it?
At the moment, Shahor does not have an installer, so you have several options:
- Install Puppy with Syslinux, then replace the files with those in the Shahor ISO (syslinux.cfg and the "boot" directory)
- Burn it to a CD (not tested, since I don't have an optical drive myself)
- Dangerous: install it manually
- Dangerous: instant "live" USB

How do I connect to the internet?
You'll have to do this manually, through command-line tools.

How do I install a package?
First, update the list of available packages (takes about 2-3 minutes on my old netbook):

Code:

hpm-makedb

Then, use hpm-get. To install GIMP, run:

Code:

hpm-get gimp

After the installation, go to the menu and click Settings -> Window Manager -> Update Menu.

How do I make it persistent?
Unlike Puppy, Shahor always saves changes to the partition it booted from. Just add the boot code "persistent" to the boot loader configuration. For example, in the case of Syslinux:

Known Issues
- The first boot takes much longer, because some files are genereated.
- CUPS doesn't work.
- Issues with permissions - regular users are unable to run X. For now, use root.
- Mail fetching to /var/spool/mail was not tested.
- cron was not tested for regular users.
- Sometimes, the package manager skips top-level dependencies for an unknown reason.

I'm surprised that I don't see many more comments or interest here. roar-ng-ii is the equivalent of woof; shahor is like wary or racy. It is a fresh original re-implementation of puppy's ideas. That in itself is worth a look.

Iguleder, I seem to recall that roar-ng (the original) has a build system for source packages; but the readme for roar-ng-ii has no mention about it. Does roar-ng-ii still support building from source packages (in addition to other distro's packages)?

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